


A Night on Tycho

by AvgHoneyBadger



Category: The Expanse Series - James S. A. Corey
Genre: F/M, Gratuitous Smut, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Rough Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-12 08:40:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28757478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvgHoneyBadger/pseuds/AvgHoneyBadger
Summary: Jaq just got a new position as the head of engineering on Tycho Station. She's out to celebrate when the Rocinante arrives. Amos just happens to be looking for a good time as well.
Relationships: Amos Burton/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 18





	A Night on Tycho

A hand slipped up Jaq's inner thigh, slick and damp with sweat. Another slid across her ribs, then cupped her breast and squeezed tightly. One hot mouth - she was fairly certain there were two present - sucked at her nipple, occasionally nibbling at the sensitive flesh. A riot of sensation suffused her bones. Every time teeth nipped at her skin little, delightful shocks of pain lanced up and down her spine in mini currents. The second mouth made its appearance by chewing at her shoulder and following up by kissing a tiny row along her neck and down her jaw with the lightness of a feather.

Jaq lifted her knee to spread her thighs wide and turned on her back. A watery green light pulsed intermittently above the writhing trio. It cast a shadow over the face of a feminine figure leaning over Jaq, creating a wild halo of dense, curly hair. She couldn't see who it was, couldn't really remember why she was there, but a set of fingers curled into the hair on her mound, then sank deep inside her. She soon forgot to wonder what she was doing.

A voice murmured in her ear, _do you like it?_

She lifted an arm, searching until she found the face that had spoken beneath her hand. Jaq curled her arm around their neck and brought them in for a feverish kiss. The fingers inside her moved more quickly. She was gasping for air, frantic with climax.

When the shuddering subsided, small, strong hands helped her leverage onto her hands and knees, carefully pressing down on her mid-back, until her chest was flush with the mattress. Two more hands spread her cheeks and delicately dribbled something slick along her crack. The first person, the woman, situated herself before Jaq's face, presenting her with a smooth expanse of bare thigh. Jaq could barely find her way from hazy vision, but she crawled forward anyway, seeking the treasure offered.

As she approached, the woman guided Jaq's head down with fingers clenched tightly in the hair at the back of Jaq's head. When her nose brushed against tight, moist curls she tentatively lapped with her tongue. The woman sighed in delight. This affirmation goaded Jaq to inch closer and, using her hands, she opened the woman's slit to taste her fully.

It only took a second for Jaq to lose her shyness. Soon she was lapping at the woman's folds hungrily, darting her tongue across the bud, and lingering at her opening.

Behind her the other person positioned himself between Jaq's thighs and continued to rub oil on Jaq's cheeks, occasionally pressing his fingers inside her and rubbing at her clit. When he entered her she collapsed on top of the woman beneath her, and let herself relax into sensation.

* * *

Jaq opened her eyes to find a lean, naked bottom walking away from her. Everything looked blurry. A terrible smell was emanating from somewhere close by. She shook her head to clear the cotton rolling around in her brain, but found very quickly any movement was a painful mistake.

"Oh no," she mumbled and sat up slowly. Something near her foot went tumbling across the floor toward the retreating bottom but Jaq couldn't be bothered to find out what it was. The pain in her head was terrible. She rubbed her face and tried to inhale slowly but the horrible smell made her gag. "Oh no," she said again.

"She wakes," a voice said from down the hall. "Would you like to tell me just where in the fuck you have been?"

A small, strangled sound managed to make its way past the gum gluing Jaq's mouth closed.

"Right," the voice continued. It had a name, this voice, but Jaq wasn't confident she could remember what it was. "That's it, I'm done."

"No," Jaq managed.

"Yes," the voice said from closer by. It had come back down the hall to stand over Jaq's pathetically prone form. "I told you already, I can't do this anymore. I'm not fighting about it, I'm not doing any more chances. I don't fucking care if you feel like it doesn't count since you _paid for it_. It fucking counts to me." A pause lengthened into several seconds of silence. "There's a shuttle to Luna leaving tomorrow… I'm taking it."

"Don't…"

"I wish I could say I'm sorry, but I'm not," the voice may as well have shoved a dagger into Jaq's heart. "You left me to wonder where you were for three days? At first, I thought you were dead…"

Another pause stretched an impossibly long while. Jaq couldn't think of a single thing to say, no words could save her now.

"I was _frantic_ , Jacqueline. And then I heard about the new job, and I knew. You don't call, you don't answer my messages, and then you stumble in here smelling like a waste recycler, more fucked up than I've ever seen you, still slick with grime from the whorehouse... Now you want to ask me to stay? No."

_I smell like a waste recycler?_ Jaq sniffed toward her armpits and gagged again, the source of the smell obvious now that it had been said out loud. "Laura…"

"No."

There was a bag over the angry woman's shoulder now. When had she packed it? The slender blonde shook her head sadly and left without a backward glance. Jaq fell back into the couch and passed out.

Waking the second time was no easier than the first fiasco, as this time it was accompanied by nausea, profound self-hate, and terrible sadness. Jaq looked across the hall into the bedroom she'd shared with Laura only to find disheveled sheets, and a messy bureau as though someone had packed in a hurry. Of course, someone _had_ packed in a hurry, but the sight of it seemed to drive the fact home. Jaq squeezed her eyes shut and looked in the other direction. The thing she'd kicked over earlier was an empty bottle of 18-year-old Japanese whisky. She must have passed out with it in her hand.

Where had she found a bottle of genuine-earth whisky? _Jesus._ Had she finished the whole thing last night?

Memories started trickling in through the haze of hangover. The first stop had been Blue Dragon with Maz, which was where she'd picked up the whisky, then she'd gone to Che's for a pick me up, which explained the dry caking feeling in her nose, and eventually landed at Dandelion Sky.

Jaq vaguely remembered a room draped in lavish fabrics, and light, firebrand touches along her spine. How long had she stayed at Dandy's? One day? Two? No wonder Laura was pissed. The only plus side was that she hadn't imbibed an entire bottle of whisky on her own. The downside, and there would be a lot of it, was that there had very likely been opioids mixed in with all the uppers she'd taken. The comedown was going to be a bitch.

Sitting upright seemed like a terrible idea, so Jaq rolled slowly onto the floor, careful of her aching head, and crawled to the bathroom where she promptly threw up. Face still resting on the toilet seat, she reached into the shower stall to turn the water to maximum heat. The steaming water burned her skin as she sat under the spray hugging her knees to her chest. She sat until the steam gave up and the cold forced her out into the heated dryer, and finally a set of warm pajamas.

Somehow, even in a drug-fueled haze, Jaq had managed to stick to the schedule and gotten home in time to spend two days in recovery. She made a mental note to order an IV to her rooms. This hangover couldn't stretch into three days since her new job started on Monday. Sam, her boss, would expect her to be fresh and aggressive.

For now, though, Jaq felt like absolute damnit, and all she wanted was a warm body to hug. Jaq started to look around for Laura before she remembered and a small stab of pain shot through her chest.

_Oh yeah…_ Jaq squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the rebutting swarm of anger that would inevitably come.

_Fuck Laura if she couldn't appreciate that a woman needed to celebrate the victories,_ Jaq thought. (There it is!) The fight for this particular promotion had been arduous. If ever a person deserved a celebratory few days, surely it must be after all those months of work?

_Right,_ Jaq couldn't possibly be to blame here. The trussed up, held down part of her life was officially over! Monogamy was for suckers, anyway. Jaq wouldn't be tethered anymore. No one would hold her back ever again.

Tycho Station was the largest and most technologically advanced space station in human history. It was larger than most asteroids in the Belt and spun to create a low amount of g force. Jaq had moved here specifically to join the OPA, an organization that represented the oppressed people of the Belt. When she'd arrived bright-eyed and bushy-tailed five years ago, right out of university and eager to prove herself, she thought it would only be a matter of time before she was running the place.

Of course, that was before the Cant had been shot down, it was before James Holden had outted Mars as an aggressor and started an interplanetary war. It was before the Protomolecule had changed everything. Before Venus had become the breeding ground for a high tech alien that no one understood.

Now there was a gigantic ring floating out in the middle of space, large enough to swallow entire planets, and no one knew why it was there, or what they were supposed to do about it. The only thing Jaq could figure was that they should buckle down and start building fleets to be prepared for anything that may come out of it.

While Jaq was worried solely about the Belt, whoever made it out there to figure out what was going on with that big blue motherfucker was going to need the ships to get them there, and the firepower to hold it. She kept working her way up until she was apprenticing with the head of engineering on Tycho Station, Sam Rosenberg.

Sam was everything to Jaq, a boss, a mentor, a friend, and now Sam had been promoted to oversee the entire division and had promoted Jaq to be the Head of Engineering in her place. It was an honor that would elevate Jaq's position in the inner hierarchy of Tycho - meaning, better pay, better rooms, better missions, better women… you name it.

Jaq's current rooms were rather deep inside the station giving her a long walk to engineering, which was on the sunward side of the station. Tycho, more than anything else, was a sort of weigh station and Mechanicsville in one. This was where top innovators, inventors, and builders congregated to keep the human race living with the stars. To best accommodate these priorities Tycho was built in a sort of circle around a rotating core with docking blocks thrusting off the one end. There was no spin force in the center of the station while the outer ring saw about 1/3 of a g.

Jaq made her way to the office, passing through the wide hallways full of food stalls, people on their way to work, and children sullenly walking to class. The head of Tycho Station, Fred Johnson, was waiting for her when she arrived in the office.

She paused in the doorway, eyeing him suspiciously. What business could he possibly have with her first thing in the morning? And why didn't he just send a lackey?

"Good morning, Ms. James," he had a blinking communications terminal in his hands that he didn't take his eyes from as he spoke.

"Morning," Jaq replied. She waited for him to finish what he was doing before continuing. When he didn't, Jaq prompted him. "What can I do for you, Mr. Johnson?"

"I have a job for you," he said, still tapping impatiently on his hand terminal. It looked far too fragile for his mighty grip. He tapped at it with enough force to jab a hole through the screen.

"Oh?" That was unexpected as there weren't many new ships in dock that she was aware of.

"The _Rocinante_ will be arriving by the end of the week. It's usually in pretty bad shape when it finds berth here, and from this file, it seems this time will be no different," he shook his head in resigned amusement and handed the terminal to her.

"Come up with a repair plan and have it ready by the time they get here. You'll begin work immediately. Pull together any team you'd like and don't worry about budgeting. I'll need them flying again as soon as possible."

"Thank you, sir," Jaq managed as he strode out of the room.

_Holy shit._

The _Rocinante_ . James Holden was coming back to Tycho. The man that both started and finished a war between the inner planets… and Jaq would be heading up the repair of his corvette. _Holy shit,_ she thought again. _I've got to call Sam._

Over the next three days, Jaq spent every waking moment developing plans and putting teams together. This particular corvette was usually under Sam's direct supervision so she knew the plans would have to be perfect or Sam would insist she start from scratch.

Thanks to the unexpected arrival of the most infamous ship in the system, Jaq's first week as head of engineering turned out to be stressful and consuming as Sam had foretold. Jaq tackled it with a glee that she found both surprising and refreshing.

A message on her terminal popped up, obscuring a map of the _Rocinante's_ damaged side panel. It was a connection request from none other than Sam Rosenberg, herself. Exactly like dreaming up the devil. Jaq flicked the call open onto the wall terminal in her quarters.

"Sam," Jaq said. "What can I do for you?"

"I wanted to see your plans for the _Roci_ , but I won't have time to come by tomorrow. Can you send them to me now so we can go over them?"

Jaq obliged, pinging the files from her darkened hand terminal. Sam looked down into her terminal then flicked them up onto her wall screen. Jaq watched as Sam's eyes went in and out of focus as she seemed to look into the camera lens to read through the files.

"That, there…" she swiped at her terminal. The picture blacked out for an instant as Sam's finger passed over the camera. A small 3D model of the front of the ship jumped out of Jaq's terminal and hovered before her. A little red dot illuminated on the right side of the ship's nose, pulsating softly.

"They have an aftermarket canon there," Sam said. "I didn't think they would have it in the manifests, and I was right. Don't add it, but be aware that you'll need to work around it."

Jaq added the note into her personal manifest. "Thanks, how does the rest look?"

"Good so far," Sam swiped over the camera again, and the model disappeared. "Yeah, good… very thorough… Okay! I'm going to go through this tonight and add some notes, if there is something I feel like you should change I'll ding you, but it looks like you've got this handled."

Sam grinned her evil pixie grin. "Good job, Jaq. You're going to love working with this crew."

"Thanks, Bossmang," Jaq replied and gave a small sarcastic earth-army salute.

Upon getting the thumbs up she decided she would finally be able to take a little time to herself and headed for her favorite bar, the Blue Dragon, though she took her work terminal with her so she could keep abreast of any changes Sam made to her plans.

It was already very late on the time schedule; third shift would be starting soon. _One drink,_ she told herself.

When Jaq arrived there was only one spot left at the bar. A little grunt of misgiving poofed through her lips as she surveyed the growing crowd gathering around the bar, but she made her way over to join them anyway. She'd come all this way, after all.

The last remaining stool was next to a large, bald man in a Mars issued jumpsuit. She sighed unhappily, readying herself for a fight to keep her privacy, and slid onto the stool next to him. He offered a small brisk nod then went back to concentrating on his drink. Jaq's friend was bartending for the night and slid a glass of whiskey her way then dropped a pitcher of water in front of her without asking.

"Thanks, Maz," she called and turned to catch the large man looking down at her again. She narrowed her eyes up at him, trying to figure him out. To say he was big would be an understatement. Sitting, it was hard to determine exactly how large he was, but judging by the huge hands wrapped around his beer glass, he could easily be as tall as any Belter. The difference was that he was also quite broad where Belters tended to be more long boned and slender. This man had the solid build of growing up in a gravity well, like Earth, but had the tattoos of a Belter. Odd, and odder.

The man was watching her take him in with a look of vague acceptance. "Can I help you?" He asked. Jaq dropped her gaze for a second, embarrassed at being called out.

A smirk showed on his otherwise pleasantly neutral face. His eyes were a quick, cold, uncaring green, that didn't share his smile.

"Doubtful," Jaq murmured and pulled her work terminal out of her satchel.

"Alright," he shifted minutely and tossed back half the contents of his glass. "It just seems like a person might need somethin' when they stare at a person as long as you were lookin' at me."

Jaq rolled her eyes but conceded with a small tilt of her head. He left her in peace as she woke her terminal up and navigated to her roster of duties.

"Whatcha drinkin' that don't need to be asked for?" He interrupted her mid mental list of available workforces. Sam had reorganized her priority list, which left some holes in her teams.

He was swirling the remaining contents of his glass. It appeared to be a viscous, bubbly, beige liquid. Mushroom beer.

She considered him, then caught Maz's eye and signaled for the whiskey bottle. The man beside her downed whatever was left in his glass and proffered the empty vessel toward Jaq. She poured a short splash of the whiskey into it and motioned for him to drink, but kept the bottle. To leave no doubt about her intentions, to herself as much as to the man, Jaq turned her back to him to focus on her terminal. A few more messages had come in from Sam indicating everything was set for the _Rocinante's_ arrival sometime in the next two days, except for the teams she'd already noticed needed tweaking. There was another note about the reordered priorities list which emphasized certain systems, like securities over navigation.

It was strange that Sam would shuffle securities to a higher priority when Johnson had specifically stated he wanted the crew flying as quickly as possible. Maybe-

"Working?" The man asked. His voice was deep, raspy, and full of idle curiosity. Apparently, he either didn't get the hint or didn't care.

Jaq lowered the terminal slowly, train of thought well, and truly disrupted. "Yup," she said tightly, hoping to put an end to the conversation.

"In a bar?" the man chuckled and drained his whiskey. He grabbed the bottle and poured himself another shot.

"Yes," she said through clenched teeth. The person on the stool on the other side of her chose that moment to get up, leaving an open spot beside her. She snatched the bottle back from the man and stood to take the vacant stool just as a pair of hands slid over the bar taking it up before she could.

"This guy bothering you?" a lazy drawl that could only come from Mars asked. Jaq had never understood the affected Texan accent Mars had acquired. As far as she knew, the initial colony was mostly comprised of astronauts from India and Southeast Asia.

"Yes, would you mind?" she got up from her stool and moved to the other side of the Martian, forcing him to take the seat between herself and the bewildering Earther.

"Oh! Are we drinking whiskey?" the Martian asked. "Hey love, you wanna toss another glass down this way?"

Maz complied, distraction with other guests keeping her from noticing Jaq's discomfort. "I'm Alex," he said as he poured himself a dram from her bottle. He had a nice face with a warm genuine smile, clearly under the belief that he was making a new friend. She was astonished by their complete lack of propriety.

"Hi Alex," she muttered and reached for the whiskey.

"Amos," the first man added and snatched the bottle before she had the chance to close her fist around it. He flashed a grin at her as he poured, showing a set of matching dimples that made him a hell of a lot more handsome than the initial smirk had. Jaq looked between the two men in disbelief. Were they for real? Finally, she couldn't help it, she laughed.

"You're paying," she said in defeat and tucked her terminal back into her satchel.

"Yes, ma'am," Alex intoned seriously with a twinkle in his eye. Amos just gave a soft chuckle and poured himself yet another whiskey. "What brings you to such a fine establishment tonight?"

"Work," Amos butt in with a wink.

"Fuck you," Jaq added, kindly.

"Yeah?" Amos asked and turned sideways to face her. He leaned one elbow on the bar to see around Alex, massive shoulder-shrugging into his neck. Jaq considered him. The posture emphasized his size acutely. He was mostly muscle with a small softness around the middle. His hair was cut so short he was almost bald, but he had a beautifully maintained beard. He would do to shake off some stress, and boy, had this past week laid the stress on thick.

The silence stretched for longer than she intended. Alex was still seated between them, hands up in comical defense looking back and forth. She could feel the smile on her face and saw it mirrored on Amos.

"You two are relentless," she offered.

"The two of us?" Alex shook his head, "No way am I being lumped in with this asshole."

Amos smacked him on the back and gave him a friendly shake.

"That's true, actually…" Alex said as if Amos had verbally communicated. "I do love you, brother," he shook his head in mock sadness, then lifted his glass to toast.

"To being hopeless and relentless."

They finished the bottle of whisky quickly, and yet so much later than Jaq ever meant to be out drinking. A tone chimed from her terminal. She gave it a quick look. Midnight, _fuck._

"I've got to go," she told the men. "I'm in the office for first shift."

"Sorry we kept you," Alex said with both sincerity and obvious delight.

Amos leaned back against the bar, eyebrows raised in challenge.

"Fuck you," she told him for the second time and gave him a rude Belter gesture that made him laugh.

"I'm ready when you are," he gave her a belter shrug, a motion made with the hands more than the shoulders, palms up. He paired the motion with a long look and a steady charming smile.

She watched him curiously for a moment. "Sure," she finally said with a matching shrug and called to Maz to have the bottle put on their tab.

Amos did not disappoint.

Before the door was fully shut at his rooms he was tearing his jumpsuit off and stroking himself to hardness. Jaq, feeling as eager as Amos, tore her shirt off and was pulling down her pants as quickly as she could. He was on her faster than she could manage it.

He spun her toward the wall and bent her over until one cheek was pressed against the wall paneling next to the light switch. He fit himself inside her without ceremony, gripping her breasts tightly in his fists.

Amos filled her entirely. She could hear him breathing heavily through his nose as he pressed his hips painfully into the backs of her thighs. Then, he slowly started pumping as if savoring the experience.

Jaq arched her back, pressing back into him, begging for more without words. One of his hands released her breast and was placed on the back of her neck to hold her still as he fucked her. She couldn't move, but she didn't want to.

She tried to widen her stance, hoping for better footing as he pounded into her, but her pants were still ringing her ankles in a hopeless tangle. She braced her hands against the wall on either side of her face instead.

Pressure was already building in her cunt. She heard herself begging him, heard her groans and whimpers as if she was someone else. His other hand slid down to her hip to hold it in place but she grabbed it and moved it in between her legs. Jaq pressed his fingertips into her clit, then guided them in a tight circular motion.

Her orgasm exploded with the dual sensation, shudders wracking through her in waves until her knees finally gave out as the shaking subsided.

Amos picked her up to take her to a bedroom where he put her on the bed, kicked her knees open, and reburied himself. Jaq's skin felt like it was on fire. Every touch sent shivers through her. Her nipples were hard pearls and her cunt was ravenous. She bucked against him, gripping his shoulders and sucking and biting every inch of his skin she could reach. He took her hands from his body and pinned them over her head by the wrists with one hand. His other hand closed around her throat, not tight enough to close her airways, but tight enough that her muscles clenched up.

_Yes_ , she was muttering _yes_ over and over again.

Another orgasm was building slowly, like banked embers in a fire. Amos let her hands go and lifted her hips into the air. The position allowed him to more powerfully thrust and hit her mound in exactly the right way. His grip bit into her hips, his sweat dripped across her flesh.

He was close, she could feel it, and she wanted one more climax before he was finished. She pinched a nipple with one hand and rubbed frantically at her clit with the other. This orgasm rolled and rolled gaining more momentum with his every thrust.

"I'm coming," she muttered.

Amos lifted her so that she was straddling him, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. She could hear his soft groans as he pressed her hips down and rubbed them back and forth over his pubis. He grunted and heaved, but kept exerting the pressure on her hips even as she grew soft from her own spent climax. When he came he pounded into her with a small, deep cry and a huff.

They fell over sideways onto the bed, chests heaving. One of Amos’s arms was pinned under Jaq's waist and the other was draped heavily over her chest. They were both covered in sweat and semen. Amos was already dozing, but not restfully. He twitched and murmured in his sleep like a worried pet.

Jaq watched him breathe for another moment, then pulled herself from his embrace and headed for his shower. Once clean and clothed she let herself out and went back to her rooms. On the way she noticed she'd received a message from Fred Johnson, the _Rocinante_ had arrived. Work would start tomorrow, or today considering the time.

Not a soul was in engineering when Jaq arrived. The _Rocinante_ was visible through the clear fronted docking doors directly ahead. She wondered idly if James Holden and the crew were still inside. Her hand terminal meeped with a fresh communication from Mechanicsville headquarters containing the updated list of needed repairs. Just as she'd started giving the crews their final assignments she heard voices approaching the door.

"How did that even happen, man?" one voice cajoled. "You looked like you were about to fight when I showed up!"

_Oh no._ Jaq recognized that Martian drawl.

"Isn't it the same thing?" A second familiar voice responded.

_No, no, no!_ Schooling her features she turned toward the door as it opened. In walked Fred Johnson, James Holden, a Belter woman Jaq only vaguely recognized, Alex from the Blue Dragon, and Amos.

There was a pregnant pause before Alex gave a soft, "Whoops."


End file.
